WICKSTEED PARK FINED AFTER NARROW GAUGE RAILWAY ACCIDENT

28 Jun 2004 05:45 PM

Operators of narrow gauge and heritage railways have been urged to ensure they maintain their track and trains properly following a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution against Wicksteed Park Ltd.

Wicksteed Park Ltd of Wicksteed Park, Kettering pleaded guilty at Kettering Magistrates Court to failing to comply with Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined 15,000 and ordered to pay 2,354 in costs.

The case followed a derailment at the Northamptonshire attraction in September 2003 when a train carrying about 70 people derailed on the narrow gauge railway at the park injuring several members of the public.

An investigation showed that poor maintenance was the main cause of the accident with a shortage of ballast allowing the track to move. There was also inadequate train maintenance and poor management of the way it was operated. People doing the work were found to be not properly competent.

Allan Spence, HM Principal Inspector of Railways, said:

"This was a nasty accident for those injured and particularly upsetting for the children involved. Two people were taken to hospital and it was just good luck that no-one was more seriously injured when the seats shattered or when thrown off the train before it stopped.

"Most disappointing is that this accident was easily preventable and the various failures that led to it should not have gone unnoticed or uncorrected. Unusually, there has been a history of derailments at the Wicksteed Park railway over the past decade and a raft of advice from HSE and others about the need to improve track maintenance, but still this part of the track was in a terrible state of repair until this accident.

"Action by the company since has dramatically improved safety on the railway but it was just too late."

In 2002, after an accident on another ride, HSE served an improvement notice requiring Wicksteed Park Ltd to ensure ride operators elsewhere on the site were competent.

Mr Spence added: "I was surprised to find that the management had not acted to apply the same principles to the railway and we found that people working on the track and trains did not know enough to understand the consequences for safe operation.

"Many people enjoy operating and riding on minor railways throughout the country. Most are well run with a good safety record. It is extremely unusual for HSE to have to resort to prosecuting operators but when advice is ignored and the extent of failure is significant, we are left with little option."

Notes to editors

1) The Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA), Section 3(1) states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety." 2) The maximum penalty for a breach of Section 3(1) of the HSWA in a Magistrates Court is a fine of 20,000.
3) The railway at Wicksteed Park is a 24" narrow gauge track approximately one and a quarter miles in length.

PUBLIC ENQUIRIES: Call HSE's InfoLine, Tel: 08701 545500, or write to: HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.

HSE information and press releases can be accessed on the Internet: http://www.hse.gov.uk/

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